


Philophobia

by becasbelt



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Happy Halloween Folks, au- no jesse, might be a lil scary, probably set around pp2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27310687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becasbelt/pseuds/becasbelt
Summary: "You just had to read the creepy book, didn't you, Beale?"Beca and Chloe must face their biggest fears after finding a magic book at the library. Together they must defeat their inner demons, learning new things about themselves (and each other) along the way.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 22
Kudos: 64





	Philophobia

Beca shushes Chloe for the twelfth time since they left the house, looking around in paranoia to make sure no one as snuck up on them. Chloe quiets her giggling for the moment and Beca can’t help but smile at the obvious effort Chloe puts in towards making herself silent.

Checking her surroundings once more just to be sure no one is around, Beca slowly reaches up and starts fiddling with the bottom of the window she’s trying to open, stretching up on her toes in order to reach. She can feel Chloe hovering just behind her as she works, no doubt watching with curious eyes, and forces herself to ignore the sensation in favor of completing her task.

After a few muttered curse words and one more shush directed at Chloe’s laughter, Beca hears a faint _click_ from the window becoming unlocked and she lets out a small noise of triumph, smoothly sliding the window open.

Beca turns towards Chloe with a smirk and sees that the other girl looks surprised. “What, didn’t think I could actually do it?” she asks smugly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“No, I just-” Chloe cuts herself off as she thinks about her reply. “Okay, maybe I doubted you a _little_ ,” she admits, to which Beca scoffs in fake offense. “But only because I’d never seen you in action before,” Chloe continues, recomposing herself. She looks Beca up and down, causing Beca to squirm under the attention. “Well done, Mitchell.”

Beca flushes the tiniest bit and shakes her head. “Yeah, well,” she says, turning towards the open window. “Being a delinquent teenager taught me a thing or two about breaking and entering. Boost me up.”

Chloe locks her hands together so that Beca can plant her foot on them before easily hoisting Beca up to the window’s height. Beca marvels silently at the woman’s arm strength briefly as she climbs in through the window, turning around to help Chloe up once she’s secured herself inside.

“So,” Beca says, brushing off her hands as she surveys the room in front of them. The library just off campus is decidedly much more run-down than the campus library, having been built decades before Barden University was even a thought in the wind. With its towering shelves and seemingly endless rows of books, one could easily be lost wandering amidst the books for hours if they weren’t careful. Not that Beca would know anything about that; she’s never personally been a fan of libraries or even reading in general, choosing instead to focus her energy towards music- something that you could _actually_ experience. “Where’s this book of yours?”

Chloe produces a scrap of paper from her pocket and studies it for a moment. “I’m not sure, exactly,” she says. “It’s some book I have to read for Russian lit.” Beca rolls her eyes fondly at the mention of the infamous class. “Maybe there’s a Russian authors section?”

Beca shrugs. “I don’t know if it gets _that_ specific, but go nuts. I’m gonna go look through their music stuff while you figure all of-” Beca gestures vaguely in the direction of the shelves- “ _that_ out.”

They set off in separate directions, Chloe muttering various section names under her breath while Beca looks around for any signs that might say _media_ on them. She takes in the details of the library, wondering how different it would look when it’s daytime and full of people. In the dead of the night with only the light of the moon and the soft creak of her own footsteps, shadows draped over ever edge and corner in the room, Beca supposes it could almost be described as downright ominous.

Inexplicably Beca finds herself pacing up and down the aisles at the back end of the library, her eyes skimming over the titles on display. She has no idea what kind of section she could be in, and frankly she doesn’t care enough to find out. All she knows is that the books in this area of the library appear to be older than the rest of the books, many of them collecting dust and generally looking as if they haven’t been touched in years.

One book in particular makes Beca pause in her perusing. It’s one of the older-looking ones- like, _really_ old-looking. Like, falling apart at the binding and should probably just be thrown away old. It’s fairly thick, probably about the size of a textbook, with a brown hard-cover and a faded title on the spine. Beca pulls it from the shelf without too much thought, blowing off some of the dust that has collected on its surface.

The title is too faint to read, but Beca opens the book anyway, its pages crinkling at the action. A musty smell hits Beca senses and she crinkles her nose a little before flipping through some of the pages. The content of the book appears to be various poems, some with strange titles and some with no titles at all. Beca skims over one called “Fear Itself” for a moment, eyebrows drawing together at the words.

“Whatch doin’?”

Beca yelps and jumps about a foot in the air, barely keeping the book in her hands from tumbling to the ground. She spins around and glares at Chloe, who now stands right in front of her. “Jesus _Christ,_ dude,” she hisses angrily, heart racing and eyes narrowing at the innocent look on Chloe’s face. Chloe’s face, which is much closer to Beca’s own than she initially realized. Beca immediately takes a step away from Chloe, clearing her throat before resuming her glare. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on someone in a spooky-ass library in the middle of the night?”

“What were you reading?” Chloe asks, seemingly oblivious to Beca’s near heart attack. She tugs the book from Beca’s hands and Beca gives it up willingly, still feeling a little miffed at being so thoroughly spooked.

Chloe takes a minute to scan through the open pages. The moonlight shining in through the windows casts an eerie glow over her, making her skin look bluish and dampening the bright red of her hair. Her eyes still glisten, though, which makes Beca wonder if there is anything in this world that could take that away.

Beca realizes she’s been staring and tears her eyes away, directing her attention to the floor instead and shifting from foot to foot a little.

“Amidst the glow of the full blue moon, the spell to grant your deepest boon,” Chloe starts, reading the very poem that Beca had been looking at when she was sneaked up on. “Release your toil and your strife, and let your fears come to life.”

Chloe’s words ring out around the empty library before they are enclosed in silence once more. Chloe wrinkles her nose a little. “Guess I’m not one for poetry,” she says, snapping the book closed and sliding it back into its place on the shelf. “Ooh! My book!”

Beca winces at the squeal of excitement as Chloe trots over and slips a book from the shelf, examining it for moment before nodding in confirmation.

“Would you look at that,” Beca murmurs, shaking her head in astonishment. “Alright,” she says, louder this time. “Let’s head out, this place is starting to creep me-”

Footsteps.

Beca freezes, putting a hand on Chloe’s arm to get her to stop as well. Chloe looks at her with a raised eyebrow but Beca only puts a finger to her lips, signaling to remain silent. The footsteps start getting closer and Chloe’s eyes widen at the sound.

They quickly crouch down and Beca crawls over to peek through a crack in the books, trying to get a glimpse of the approaching figure. Chloe taps her arm and Beca looks over at her with a questioning look.

 _Security?_ Chloe mouths, to which Beca shrugs. She _assumes_ that it is a security guard, but Beca had been under the impression that this library didn’t have any night guards. She’d done her homework for this breaking and entering. They hadn’t been _prepared_ for something like this.

The footsteps get even closer still, each slow and clunky step sending a shiver down Beca’s spine. Chloe reaches out and grips onto Beca’s arm, the contact causing Beca to stiffen.

They wait for what seems like an eternity until the footsteps come to stop on just the other side of the shelf Beca and Chloe are hiding behind, and Beca’s breathing stops at the same time. She and Chloe lock eyes for a moment before Beca slowly moves her head to peek through the crack in the books again.

A masked face is the only thing that fills her sight, dark eyes staring knowingly through the very space Beca is seeing through. Beca jumps back so fast that she lands on her ass in the middle of their aisle, her heart pounding in her chest. Chloe looks at her, alarmed, before the sound of a chainsaw starting up makes them both stare at the shelf concealing the figure in fear.

Beca is the first to come to her senses, her adrenaline telling her to _move._ “Go. _Go_!” she urges Chloe, scrambling to her feet and grabbing Chloe’s hand to help her up as well. Chloe appears to be petrified, her limbs locking up and making it difficult for Beca to move her, but the sight of the chainsaw slashing through the shelving in the next second is all the motivation to get her moving.

They sprint through the shelving, Beca cursing her past self for not paying attention to where she was going as she tries to find the part of the library where they came in. She can hear the figure not far behind them, chainsaw still roaring menacingly, and she wills her legs to move faster.

She reaches where she guesses is one end of the library, a wall of books stopping her from going straight any longer, instead having to choose to go left or right. Beca chooses left and runs towards a new part of the library, the books now looking a bit newer.

The sound of the chainsaw sounds farther away now, so Beca chances a glance over her shoulder and is relieved to no longer see the masked man chasing her. Beca quickly dives behind a shelf and puts a hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath.

“Where the hell did he come from?” Beca asks Chloe, looking over to make sure the other girl is alright.

Except, the space beside her is empty.

Alarm spikes through Beca. “Fuck,” she whispers under her breath. “Fuck, Chloe, where are you?”

Beca crawls between the shelves, peeking through books in search of Chloe as her panic steadily grows. She can no longer hear the sound of the chainsaw, which means that _whoever_ it is that is after them is too far away to hear, or he’s turned it off.

 _Or he has Chloe,_ Beca’s mind whispers to her.

Beca shakes her head. She couldn’t think like that. Chloe was okay- Chloe _had_ to be okay. If she wasn’t okay then Beca would never-

“Psst!”

Beca flails wildly, her heart spiking even higher than she thought was possible. She spins around to see Chloe crouched in the shadows of the shelving, a finger over her lips. Relief floods through Beca, the sight of Chloe okay making her release the breath she’s been holding.

Chloe points at the bookshelf behind Beca, gesturing for her to look through the books. Beca does so, barely holding in the gasp that wants to escape at the sight of the masked man pacing around behind them. He’s in a more open part of the library, farther away than he was the first time Beca saw him, which means that she finally is able to get a good look at him.

He’s large, which is the first thing that Beca notices, easily at least six feet tall. His clothes are dirty, as if he just got done rolling around in the dirt, and his white mask reveals absolutely nothing about his face. He seems agitated, stomping around in clunky work boots as he searches the area. The chainsaw in his hand is rusty and old-looking, as if it shouldn’t work anymore yet somehow still does.

Beca turns to look back at Chloe with wide eyes. Chloe looks as though she’s wracking her brain for a way out of this mess. After a few moments, her eyes light up with an idea.

Chloe stands slowly and approaches the shelf between them and the masked man. She makes a pushing motion towards the shelf and Beca perks up in understanding of her plan. The two of them get into position, planting their feet firmly against the floor and placing their hands about halfway up the bookshelf.

It feels like agony waiting for the man to get into a prime spot for them to launch their plan into action. Beca and Chloe watch him through the books with rapt attention until he finally reaches a prime spot for them to attack.

“Now,” Chloe breathes out, and then the two of them are shoving at the large bookshelf as hard as they can. Books start spilling from the shelves as it shakes, and for a moment Beca starts to panic that they won’t be able to actually push it over.

Fear laces through her chest when the man turns directly to their position, chainsaw whirring to life and starts walking towards them. Desperation starts setting in and Beca pushes even harder, a breath of relief escaping when the large bookshelf starts to tip.

The momentum sets into the shelf and it falls over, books spilling freely from their places and onto the masked man. He has only a moment to react before the whole thing crashes down on top of him.

The crash echoes for a moment through the empty room as the chainsaw putters to a stop. Beca stares in shock at what they’ve just done before her arms are filled with Chloe hugging her tightly.

“We did it,” Chloe huffs by her ear, squeezing so hard that Beca thinks she might pop. Her heart is still pounding wildly in her chest, and the close contact with Chloe isn’t helping one bit.

Before Beca has a chance to say anything in reply, or even hug her back, an angered shout emits from beneath the fallen bookshelf. Chloe leaps away from Beca in surprise and they both watch as the wood starts shaking as the man trapped beneath it attempts to free himself.

“How the _fuck_ -” Beca starts to say, but Chloe cuts her off.

“Doesn’t matter, we have to go,” she says, grabbing Beca’s hand and leading quickly them away from the man.

They run down a few hallways, Beca trusting that Chloe knows where to lead them before they come to a stop outside a door in some odd hallways. Chloe opens the door and gestures Beca inside, shutting the door behind them as soon as they’re both in.

They’ve arrived in some sort of office space. It’s fairly empty save for a simple desk and some filing cabinets lining the walls, the only window being the one on the door.

Chloe slumps against the door in exhaustion, Beca flopping down beside her as they both catch their breath.

“Where the _hell_ did he come from?” Beca eventually asks, placing a hand against her sweaty forehead in distress. “Do all creepy old libraries have a chainsaw killer, or just this one?”

Chloe shakes her head against where it’s leaned back against the door. “I have no idea. Maybe…” she trails off whatever thought she was about to say.

Beca looks over at her. “Maybe what?” she questions.

Chloe sighs. “It sounds crazy, but maybe it was that book you found? I mean, I read that poem about fears coming to life and he appeared right after.” She looks over and meets Beca’s eyes. “Am I totally crazy for thinking that?”

For a moment Beca considers answering with _yes, you are completely fucking crazy for thinking that,_ but the more she thinks about it the less impossible it seems. After all, this is by far the craziest thing that has ever happened to her, so she supposes she shouldn’t rule out any possibilities at the moment.

“No, you’re not crazy,” she finally answers. “The only thing I’m confused about is why he in particular showed up. I mean, it sounded like it would specifically bring _your_ fears to…”

Beca trails off when she sees the guilty look on Chloe’s face. “Wait wait wait,” she says, sitting up straight. “ _That’s_ what you’re afraid of? I thought you were scared of, like- shit, I don’t know. The real world and moving on and all that stuff.”

Chloe shrugs helplessly. “I _am_ scared of all that, but that’s more recent. I’ve been scared of chainsaw killers ever since my brothers took me to a haunted corn maze when I was ten and we got chased around by a guy that looked exactly the guy out there.” Chloe shivers. “It was traumatic. I can’t get the image out of my mind.”

“I feel like this would have been good information to know _before_ your childhood nightmare came to life,” Beca grumbles, slumping back against the door. They sit in silence for a moment, the adrenaline Beca had felt earlier finally draining a bit and making Beca feel more tired than she has all night. “So. How do we stop this guy?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe says miserably. Beca glances at her and sees that she looks close to tears. “We have no way of killing him, and we’re going to die here, and it’s all _my fault._ ”

“Hey, no,” Beca says sternly, pivoting to face Chloe more forwardly. “We are _not_ going to die in a fucking _library,_ and it is _not_ your fault that this happened, okay?” She doesn’t continue until Chloe timidly nods her head, a tear escaping from one eye. Beca automatically reaches up to brush the tear away with her thumb, her touch lingering on her face as she forces Chloe to meet her eyes. “We will get through this. Nothing can take us down, not as long as we stay together.”

“Together,” Chloe echoes, her eyes drifting across Beca’s face. Beca’s own eyes flicker down towards Chloe’s lips at their own free will, lingering for a moment before a different kind of panic from earlier pokes at Beca’s mind.

Beca redraws her hand from Chloe’s cheek as if she’s been burned and scoots away, clearing her throat. Chloe looks a little calmer than before, although a kind of sadness still lingers in her bright eyes. She averts her own eyes from the sight and fixes them on the floor instead, her hands squeezing themselves in and out of fists as she tries to think of what they can do. She retraces all their steps of the night as best as she can, desperately trying to come up with a solution until finally-

“I think I have an idea,” Beca says, looking back up at Chloe. Chloe looks back at her hopefully. “If that book we read got him to appear, maybe there’s something in there that can make him disappear again.”

Chloe’s eyes light up. “Like a spell!” she exclaims excitedly.

Beca shakes her head with a short laugh. “If you had ever said that before tonight I would have _definitely_ called you crazy,” she says. “But now… yeah, like a spell.”

Their short moment of joy is ruined by the familiar sound of footsteps coming down the hall. They both immediately freeze and against the door, and Beca is suddenly grateful that the door’s window has blinds over it. She looks over at Chloe.

“I’m gonna need you to distract him, alright?” she whispers. “That was I can get back to the book and look through it to find some sort of reversal spell for all this.”

Chloe whimpers a little in response, but she doesn’t object. Instead, she reaches and grabs Beca’s hand, squeezing it firmly as she nods her head.

The footsteps pass by their door painfully slowly, while the two of them get in a crouched position by the door. Beca places a hand on the doorknob and waits for Chloe’s cue, throwing open the door and watching her sprint out of the room as fast as she can. The masked man gives chase a split second later, the sound of Chloe crying “Come and get me, motherfucker!” bouncing off the wall ahead of him, and Beca can’t help the smile that comes to her face at the unapologetic force of nature that _is_ Chloe Beale.

Beca waits until their footsteps fade and then she is up and moving, running down halls and between shelves in search of the section with the book. Eventually she finds herself in a familiar looking area, the books ancient looking and the smell of dust permeating the air. Beca slows herself to a brisk walk as she searches for the book in question, the distant sounds of shouting and things being thrown around reminding her what’s at stake here.

Finally Beca spots the book, sticking out farther than the rest and easily catching her eye. She hurries towards it, flipping rapidly through pages in search of something- _anything,_ that can help them.

After some time – too much time, really – of flipping, Beca finds herself on the same page as the one with the original spell they used. She skims briefly through all the words on the page before coming across a passage called “Fear Depart.”

“God, I hope this works,” Beca murmurs before clearing her throat. “New lessons learned and courage gained,” she starts, speaking loudly as if that will make it more likely to work some sort of magic. Demons of the mind shall now be chained. What once was wicked and raging on-”

At the end of her aisle the masked man appears, with no Chloe in sight. Beca gasps in surprise and takes a step back as he stares at Beca with dark eyes through his mask. His chainsaw isn’t on- probably busted from the bookshelf that fell on top of it, but Beca has no doubt that it could be just as deadly despite the fact.

Beca swallows and glares at the man. “Where’s Chloe?” she demands.

The man takes a step forward. Then another.

Beca holds her ground. “Where. Is. Chloe,” she repeats, growling her words this time.

The man tilts his head, seemingly perplexed by Beca’s boldness.

“I’m not going to fucking ask you again,” Beca warns, and that’s when he finally speaks.

“And what are you afraid of, Beca Mitchell?” he grumbles in a voice that sounds decidedly _not_ human.

A chill runs down Beca’s spine as he starts to transform, his height shortening, his shoulders narrowing, and his mask shifting into a familiar face until Chloe stands in his place.

Beca stares in shock at the being that is now her best friend, every single curve and feature absolutely perfect, down to the little scar on her forehead. The only difference is her eyes- usually so bright blue but now are dark just like the man in the mask’s.

“What are you afraid of, Bec?” it asks, in that familiar understanding tone that is both reassuring and heartbreaking at the same time.

“Beca!” Chloe’s voice shouts from behind her. Beca pivots around to see the _real_ Chloe appear at the other end of the aisle. “I lost him, I have no idea where he wen-” She stops in her tracks and stares at the other Chloe on the other side of Beca. “Bec… what’s going on?” she asks, confusion laced in her voice.

“I…” Beca trails off, turning to face the Chloe imposter once more. It smiles at her, the same perfect smile that the real Chloe- _her_ Chloe always gives her. She swallows and glances down at the book in her hands. “Let now be free and finally gone.”

Fake Chloe’s eyes widen before it starts crumbling, an unnatural shriek piercing the air until nothing remains of it but a pile of dust on the floor. Beca exhales shakily, dropping her book onto the floor and staring at the pile as she attempts to get her bearings together.

“Was… was that _me_?”

Beca turns to face Chloe, unsure of what to say, so she chooses to say nothing at all.

When Beca doesn’t answer, Chloe speaks up again. “I thought it showed you what you were afraid of,” she says slowly, putting the pieces together in her mind. “Beca… are you- are you scared of _me_?”

Beca winces at the flash of hurt in Chloe’s voice. “No, I’m not afraid of you,” she starts, but Chloe doesn’t let her finish.

“Then why the fuck did I just watch myself turn to dust?” she demands, gesturing angrily being Beca.

“It’s- it’s not _like that_ ,” Beca says hastily, taking a few steps toward Chloe.

“Then what’s it like?” Chloe asks, looking pleadingly into Beca’s eyes.

“I’m-” Beca squeezes her eyes shut and balls her hands into fists, trying to find the courage inside of her to say the next words. “I’m afraid of how I feel for you!”

Chloe’s eyebrows scrunch together. “I don’t understand-”

“I’m so fucking in love with you, Chlo,” Beca says, wincing at herself for cutting Chloe off. “I don’t want to be. Feelings are messy and complicated and they only hurt you in the end. And I’ve been so _scared_ of telling you how I feel because I just _know_ that you could never feel the same way.” Beca takes a deep breath and forces herself to look into her most favorite pair of eyes. “I’m not afraid of you,” she repeats, quieter now. “I’m afraid of how much you mean to me.”

It’s so quiet again, just like it was when they first got there. Beca looks away from Chloe, not wanting to see the disgust appear on her face at Beca’s admission.

“What if I could help you put those fears to rest?”

Beca’s head snaps back up to face Chloe once again, and is shocked to see a small smile on her best friend’s face. Chloe takes a few steps forward, and although Beca feel the temptation to turn and run she forces herself to remain rooted in place. “Love doesn’t have to be scary, Beca. Yes it can be messy and complicated and it can hurt, but it can also be the best feeling in the world.”

Chloe comes to a stop in front of Beca and laces their hands together. Beca feels her heart pound in her chest and this time she can’t tell if it’s fear or something else.

“And when someone you love loves you back, it makes it much less scary, I think,” Chloe finishes softly.

Beca’s breath leaves her in a surprised puff of air and then they’re kissing, Chloe’s hands gently cupping Beca’s face and Beca’s going around Chloe’s waist. And although Beca’s heart is still beating wildly, and her instincts are telling her to run, Beca stays right where she is because she’s tired of being scared. And if Chloe is willing to help her through her fears? Well, that’s a risk Beca just might be willing to take.

* * *

“You know, Aubrey was right. All those cardio exercises _did_ come in handy.”

“I’ll make sure to call her and tell her that those were your only thoughts after being chased by a chainsaw killer, Bec.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I just faced down my biggest fear, you don’t scare me.”

“You just _had_ to be scared of a chainsaw maniac, didn’t you, Beale?”

“Yeah well at least I’m not afraid of _love,_ Mitchell. I’d say I’m even more badass than you.”

“Take that back. Take that back right now.”

“Mmm nope.”

“You’re the worst.”

“Sure, but you love that, right?”

“Yeah, I really do. Oh hey, did you grab that Russian lit book before we left?”

“…shit.”

**Author's Note:**

> Philophobia: the fear of falling in love.
> 
> This was a little different than my regular stuff, so let me know what you thought! Was it scary? Was it lame? Was it neither? Let me know! (but like also pls still be nice I'm fragile xoxo)
> 
> Follow me on tumblr at becasbelt!


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